International
oi-Prakash KL
Lahore, May 14: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed that a “conspiracy” to assassinate him is being hatched in Pakistan and abroad.
Addressing a big gathering at Sialkot in Punjab province, Khan claimed that if anything happens to him people will know about the perpetrators through a video message which he has recently recorded and placed in a safe place.
“A conspiracy is afoot to take my life. I got full knowledge of this conspiracy a few days ago. The conspiracy is being hatched here and abroad against me in closed rooms. I have recorded a video about this conspiracy, naming all those involved in it. If something happens to me then the people will come to know who was behind this conspiracy,” the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Khan had earlier claimed that he wrote the names of the people who ousted his government in his heart. “We are the followers of the Prophet and we will never bow down to any superpower. We never fear anyone except Allah,” Khan said. He targeted his political opponents, warning the ‘three stooges’ – (Prime Minister) Shehbaz Sharif, PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari and JUI-F’s Maulana Fazlur Rehman – not to create any hurdles in his ‘Azadi movement’.
Responding to Khan’s fresh allegations, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the cricketer-turned-politician is trying to get people’s sympathy through this new ‘fake story of his assassination. “This man (Khan) has not learnt anything despite being in power for about four years. Now Khan is saying perhaps America and his opponents are hatching some kind of conspiracy against him. There is no place for this insane person in Pakistani politics,” Asif told a private TV channel.
The 69-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was voted out of power last month through a no-confidence motion, which he alleges was masterminded by the US with the help of local players over his pursuance of an independent foreign policy. His supporters used social media to target the army for doing nothing to save his government. PTI
Story first published: Sunday, May 15, 2022, 9:37 [IST]
